It is known to equip a computing device with a screen reader for rendering information to a user verbally. Such a capability can be of significant benefit to computer users who are visually impaired. A visually impaired user, for example, can command the computer to read text or to indicate using speech what controls or other objects are on being displayed.
Such assistive reading facilities may operate in different modes. In some modes, for example, the computing device may render text or other information verbally as content is generated for presentation to the user. In such a mode, information is rendered verbally analogously to how it might be displayed visually in a graphical user interface.
In other modes, a user may select different locations on a computer screen, such as by hitting various combinations of keys on a keyboard to indicate a particular location, and the computer will render verbally what is at that location. When a keyboard interface is used, the screen reader may recognize multiple keystroke combinations as commands that can specify which content, as displayed on the screen, is to be rendered verbally. The keystroke combination may also implicitly indicate how much content is to be rendered. For example, different keystroke commands may allow a user to step through rendered content a word at a time or a paragraph at a time.
It is known to provide a screen reader for a computer with a touch screen. Rather than indicating a location through keyboard commands, the user may indicate a location by touching the screen. Such a touch may indicate which content to render verbally. The screen reader may be used in connection with keyboard commands, which may control how much content, such as a word or paragraph, is rendered verbally from the designated location.